Unfortunately, the Guam Kingfisher is only alive
in captivity. In 1984, all of the remaining Guam Kingfishers
were captured and transported to the United States (Guam
Kingfisher, 2015). Since then, the population has been steadily
increasing due to captive breeding in zoos around the country. The population now sits at around 150, spread out through over 15 institutions (Guam Kingfisher, 2015). The captive breeding programs in the U.S. and Guam have shown promising numbers, and hope to release the kingfisher back into its natural habitat of Guam. This is the only thing that directly affecting the birds. They are protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which helps in a variety of ways. Being on the federal endangered species list gives a species more recognition, in addition to more protection (Endangered Species Act Overview, 2013).
Being on the Endangered Species Act essentially protects them against humans. It prohibits importing or exporting the animal, however this was never an really issue for the Guam Kingfisher because of the introduction of the Brown treesnake, which preys on the kingfishers and decimated their population in the 1950s and 1960s. Although they are federally recognized as endangered, they are still not getting the attention they desperately need. People need to realize, none of that matters if they aren’t in the wild. If we can’t support enough growth to get the birds back into the wild, it doesn’t matter how many laws protect them. At this point, the only hope for the bird is to act now and take out the invasive Brown treesnake in Guam, and move them back to Indonesia or New Guinea. In doing so, it will restore Guam’s food web to what it once was, and the kingfishers would bounce back.
What's Being
Done?
Guam Kingfisher
Photo Credit:
Lincoln Park Zoo
Click image to enlarge
A Socio Economic Standpoint
The Guam Kingfisher (Todiramphus cinnamomina) is a magnificent bird, a brilliant iridescent blue, with a rusty-cinnamon head. It’s beloved demeanour and gorgeous plume are nothing compared to the benefits the species provides, both economically, and environmentally (Aquarium of the Pacific, 2015). This kingfisher, dubbed Sihek by Guam natives, used to roam the island of Guam freely. Unfortunately, do to the selfish impatience of the human race, the Brown Treesnake (Boiga Irregularis) was introduced and has evolved into one of the most invasive species in the world (Bahner, 2015). This vicious serpent is not only wrecking the habitat of the kingfisher, but eleven other bird species as well, six of which are already extinct because of it. Now the endemic species is stuck, cooped inside captive breeding programs as we desperately try to save the very last of Guam’s native kingfishers. But what’s being done to save this gorgeous bird? Is our government helping to save one of the very last Guam bird species at all? After 30+ years of endangerment and captive breeding, why isn’t this bird spreading its wings to soar? (Bahner, 2015).
Guam Kingfisher
Photo Credit:
Nancy Johnston/Housten Zoo
Click image to enlarge
Recovery Plans
The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is a government agency working to help restore the Guam Micronesian Kingfisher to the wild (Endangered Species in the Pacific Islands, 2012). In 1984, the species was declared endangered by the FWS, and was later named extinct in the wild after the Association of Zoo and Aquarium Institutions brought the remaining twenty nine birds into captivity. Only two years later, September 9th, 1990, the FWS published a recovery plan specific to the kingfisher subspecies, later in 2008 a revised and finalized plan was submitted (Final Revised Recovery Plan for the Sihek or Guam Micronesian Kingfisher, 2008). The final recovery plan was necessary due to an insufficient amount of information on the Guam Kingfisher specifically, the document was shared with four other birds who have all reached extinction (Native Forest Birds of Guam and Rota of the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands Recovery Plan ~ View Plan, 1990). Within 50 years, the FWS hopes to recover the birds population to the point where it would be removed from the IUCN Red List. This would use an estimated $145,830,000. The IUCN Red List assess the conservation of species, subspecies, varieties and selected subpopulations on a global scale in order promote their conservation. (Final Revised Recovery Plan for the Sihek or Guam Micronesian Kingfisher, 2008).
Preventing New
Invasive Species
Photo Credit:
USDA
Eradication of Predators
The Brown treesnake (Boiga Irregularis) was named the kingfishers highest predator and the biggest threat to the birds population size. The invasive reptile was most likely introduced to the island shortly after WWII; Guam had recently installed Anderson Naval base, and a large amount of transportation was becoming a part of Guam’s lifestyle. The rigorous serpent is native to Australia, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea and Indonesia, where its vast diet and extremely fast reproduction rates were balanced by predators. In Guam, however, that is not the case, the reptile has no predators, and feeds endlessly on Guam’s native terrestrial vertebrates, most of whom have been extirpated because of this new additive to Guam’s ecosystems (Bahner, 2015). A large amount of work is going towards the eradication of the Brown treesnake, seeing as it has caused vast amount of ecological and economic issues on Guam, the snakes have eaten the majority of the vertebrates and thus the arachnid populations have skyrocketed without the forest birds as their predators.
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The treesnakes have also been causing major power outages, with their innate climbing skills. The new levels of spiders and snakes, as well as the incredibly unreliable electricity has taken a toll on Guam’s tourism rates. All in all the Brown treesnake has earned the position of “Highest Priority” and is the only species with an entire management program devoted specifically to their eradication (Brown Tree Snake an Invasive Reptile, 2001).
The National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) is a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA), they are working with the FWS to reduce the predator (Brown Tree Snake an Invasive Reptile, 2001). The NWRC is receiving funding through the U.S. Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program (DoD Legacy Program), who works to “enhance stewardship on military lands while supporting the military mission.” The NWRC is providing help to reduce the invasive species, and have more than sixty personnel, including seventeen canine-detector teams and four employees who manufacture snake traps. Using specially designed traps, hand capture, and oral toxicants like Acetaminophen, they remove an average of 7,000 Brown Tree Snakes annually (Brown Tree Snake an Invasive Reptile, 2001). Though 7,000 is a large number of snakes to remove, it barely dents the 2,756,000 that are on the 212 square mile island (13,000 per square mile). But how can we really expect the FWS to eradicate the species, when there are currently only
Click image to enlarge
Photo Credit:
Jennifer Lugge/Shutterstock
Brown Treesnake
four snake hunters employed on the island. Female snakes are known to produce 1-2 clutches of 4-12 eggs a year. On average 10 of the 12 eggs survive through adulthood. The reproduction rates of this species can not be matched by four hunters, and seventeen dogs. These efforts alone have already cost the government $8,000,000 (Global Invasive Species Database, 2013).
Final Revised Recovery Plan for the Sihek or Guam Micronesian Kingfisher, 2008). The captive breeding of these birds has proven very difficult, obstacles like climate and appropriate nesting have become limiting factors in the breeding process. These factors were unforeseen due to the lack of information on the kingfishers in the wild (Final Revised Recovery Plan for the Sihek or Guam Micronesian Kingfisher, 2008). Since 2004, when Dylan Kesler had started his in-depth research on the species, the bird population has started stabilizing in the captive breeding programs (Kesler, 2002).
Photo Credit:
Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune
Feeding Baby Kingfisher
in Captivity
Captive Breeding
The FWS is working with the American Zoo and Aquarium Association’s Species Survival Plan (AZA), to make the current captive breeding program a success. (Bahner, 2015) The program was initiated in 1984 with the capture of twenty-nine birds, who were distributed to the seventeen different zoos involved
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Governmental Laws
The Kingfisher was listed as an endangered species in 1984, making it subject to the protection from the Endangered Species Act of Guam (Guam Public Law 15-36). The majority of forest birds on Guam were already protected by the "Game and Fish, Forestry Conservation (Guam Public Law 6-87), which prohibited the taking, buying, or selling of wild birds or their eggs. Both of these laws were aimed toward human disturbances of the species’ and obviously didn’t do much to protect the birds from the Brown Tree Snake.
What Else Could Be Done?
As if an invasive species and difficulties in breeding whilst in captivity weren't enough, the Guam Kingfisher also faces the major issue of space. Today, captive breeding at the Philadelphia Zoo, the Smithsonian National Zoo, the Chicago Lincoln Park Zoo, the San Diego Zoo, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the St Louis Zoo and others, under the Guam Bird Rescue Project, has increased the Kingfisher population to about 124 individuals. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife, 2008) The only hope for saving the species is through zoos and aquariums and if those efforts fail then the species faces complete extinction.
More Space for Reproduction Efforts
The urgent priority for the restoration is space. All available spaces which keep the Guam Kingfisher are at capacity, zoos are actually having to slow down breeding because they do not space to hold the kingfishers in their facilities. (Bahner, 2015) At this point, facilities need to be added for reproduction efforts or more importantly conservationists need to move forward in establishing a population of Kingfishers in the wild. The continuation of bird's in captive populations can only benefit the species for so long. A wild population introduction is going to be the best opportunity to get the birds back on Guam. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife, 2008) The possibility of an island where the Brown-treesnakes do not exist would be the best option for the future of the Guam Kingfisher .
Introduction of the Guam Kingfisher to Wild
The recovery plan action focuses on increasing the captive population, controlling Brown treesnakes, protecting and enhancing habitat for reintroduction, and finally reintroducing the bird into the wild on Guam. Establishment of a captive breeding program on Guam has been mentioned multiple times within the recovery plan but has yet to be done. It would alleviate the problems encountered with efforts to increase the captive population in the continental United States such as lack of funding or space for the species. At the same time, the ongoing efforts to increase reproductive success and decrease mortality in the captivity must continue in the United States. The habitat in Guam overall needs higher standards of protection and enhancement which could include: protecting sufficient areas from development, controlling weeds, fires, and replanting native plants in the degraded areas as needed (U.S. Fish and Wildlife, 2008). The reintroduction of the Guam Kingfisher to Guam is a process that needs to be sped up if conservationists working with the species seek to restore the bird’s population. Once implemented and done two subpopulations of the Kingfisher to Guam to reduce the species vulnerability to environmental fluctuations and natural or unnatural catastrophes.
Railing to Control the Brown Treesnake
It is important to protect endangered species, especially the Guam Kingfisher, because in many cases they are an indicator species reflecting the overall health of the environment around them. For example, the effects of the Brown treesnake do not stop at the kingfisher; the snake has also threatened the Guam Rail among other bird species, additionally they climb power poles causing thousand of costly power outages. Until these snakes are controlled, birds cannot be reintroduced in Guam. The island of Rota in the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands lies 31 miles to the north of Guam and is rich in Rail habitat. It is also, so far, snake-free. The Species Survival Program had enough captive rails by 1989 to begin releasing them on Rota. Though the earliest releases were plagued by vehicle collisions and predatory feral cats,
Photo Credit:
Smithsonian National Zoo
Guam Kingfisher
Photo Credit:
Coraciiformes Taxon Advisory Group
Click image to enlarge
Click image to enlarge
Photo Credit:
Dan Stone/National Geographic
Brown Treesnake Climbing
survival rates have improved steadily. They hope to be able to release up to 100 rails a year while maintaining a captive population of 150 to 175 in mainland zoos. If the snakes on Guam are ever brought under control Rails from the wild population on Rota may form the nucleus of a recolonization of their home island (Bahner, 2015).
What Can You Do?
There are a bunch of different ways you can help out the Guam Kingfisher, and don't worry, not all of it involves donating money! Donate your time and volunteer! Sign a petition and ask your friends to do the same! The options are endless! Click on the heart to share the love!